NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
How to Balance Career Opportunity and Cost of Living (Plus: ChatGPT Ads Could Change How You Spend)
22 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the impact of AI shopping on consumer spending?
Navigating early career choices is never easy. Figuring out questions like who you want to work for, where, and what might seem simple, but it can be a complex equation. Today, we'll walk through a listener's job dilemma, including how to deal with the fact that an algorithm will determine some of the answers to those questions.
Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles.
And I'm Elizabeth Ayola. Later, we'll be answering a listener's question about how to think about early career choices when you're on your way to med school. But first, our weekly money news roundup, where we break down the latest in the world of finance to help you be smarter with your money. Our news colleague, Anahil Hoski, is back.
And she's going to be talking about the age of AI shopping and how it could change how you spend and what you buy.
The same tool that gives you helpful advice could also soon be serving you ads and be acting as the checkout all at once. So listen to this. A new study released on January 7th from IBM Institute for Business Value and the National Retail Federation found that almost half of consumers turn to AI for shopping and advice, including product research, interpreting reviews, and finding deals.
I am in the 50% that is not doing that currently. But it seems clear that the age of AI shopping is on the way.
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Chapter 2: How are companies integrating ads into AI shopping experiences?
And there are some clear signals that changes are coming really soon.
There's been a lot of recent developments. So first up, Google's starting to fold shopping and advertising right into its generative AI chat platforms. Google's AI mode is now being used to show you personalized deals and shopping offers that are based on what you're looking for. And that's a pilot program called Direct Offers.
And it lets retailers present you discounts and special promotions directly into a chat when a user is considering making some kind of a purchase. And Google also unveiled a new standard called the Universal Commerce Protocol. Very catchy. And it allows brands and retailers like Shopify, Walmart, Target, Etsy to sell directly inside AI Chats without making you click through to another site.
So you could ask Google's AI something like, what's a good carry-on suitcase? Yes, that is personal because my son stabbed up my carry-on suitcase while opening it from the box. So I need a new carry-on suitcase. And it'll both give you options and let you buy one directly in the chat.
Yeah, exactly.
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Chapter 3: What should you consider when choosing a city for medical residency?
Although you might want to be a little bit more specific. So what's a highly reviewed, lightweight, soft body, top open carry-on suitcase? So specificity is something that always helps and prompts, especially with shopping. And one more thing about Google. For now, Google's ad team is focusing on shopping ads and offers in AI mode rather than in its chatbot Gemini.
But that's pretty likely to change. So meanwhile, on January 16th, OpenAI announced that it would begin testing ads in the free tier of ChatGPT. In a post on X, the company said the chat responses won't be influenced by ads. Ads will be separate and labeled and advertisers can't see your chats.
Hmm. You know, for some reason, I'm skeptical of all of those claims.
Yeah, yeah, same. But give them the benefit of the doubt for right this second. OpenAI also has its own version of in-chat shopping that's called Instant Checkout. And a partnership was announced with Shopify and Etsy in the fall.
Chapter 4: How do cost of living and career opportunities compare in different cities?
And basically, it allows US users to see product listings right in the chat. And if the product supports it, complete a single item purchase within the conversation. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
Danger. Yeah.
Yes, especially for impulse shoppers and people who don't think before they spend. This is, wow.
It's exactly what it's designed to do, is to get them to spend without thinking.
Yeah, and it's addictive. So in the future, it's going to be offering multi-item carts. You're going to be able to buy a bunch of stuff at once. Oh my God. And it's going to be broadening the scope of which retailers it's going to be partnering with. So there'll be more choices, but we know that certain things are going to be served to you more than others.
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Chapter 5: What are the financial implications of living in a high-cost city?
Basically, the convenience that comes with making purchases within an AI chat could completely transform shopping as we know it. And completely blow up your budget. Yeah.
Yeah, I was just thinking, do you guys want to put money on how long it's going to be until buy now, pay later is incorporated into the shopping tools?
By the end of the year.
Yeah, exactly. This really raises some questions for consumers. Like, are you even seeing the best option? Or are you comparison shopping anymore? Because I think that's still important and not just, you know, taking the recommendation from an AI tool blindly.
AI shopping is going to be collapsing that line that exists right now between advice and advertising and then actually making a purchase. I was thinking about influencers. They get paid to advertise products to you and brands are counting on your parasocial relationship with that influencer that is going to steer you toward making a purchase.
But if you swap the influencer for an AI chatbot, and we already know how quickly people develop trust and in some cases, a sense of a relationship with AI tools.
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Chapter 6: How can early retirement savings affect your future?
If an AI is telling you what to buy, where to buy it, and then letting you actually make that purchase without ever clicking a link or opening a new tab, that's going to be a pretty big shift in how people are shopping.
In case you guys couldn't tell, I have a lot of apprehension about this, but I want to be balanced. So let's talk about some of the benefits of this method of shopping.
You're probably going to see fewer sketchy websites featured that are just kind of like a big mix of letters that's supposed to be a brand. It's personalized. It's convenient. It's fast. It's easy. And you may be able to find really specific items more easily than traditional search methods.
So recently I saw a podcaster that I follow also on Instagram wearing a pair of boots that I became kind of obsessed with. So I'm sorry to say. So I had ChatGPT look for it. And I had to use a little bit of like prompt adjusting along the way, but it was able to actually find them. But yeah, but they were like way out of my price range, like over a thousand dollars.
So then I asked it to find some similar, cheaper knockoff options that also like prioritize comfort.
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Chapter 7: What strategies can help save money during residency?
And wading through the options separately outside of the chat, I found one for like $120 that worked for me. Oh, that's a steal.
Okay. So you got your dupe.
Totally. I mean, but like a solid dupe. They're very comfortable. I will say it was very helpful to use as a starting point to find what I was looking for and then to compare items. But I will say that even if it did offer me the option to check out within the chat, I don't think that I would.
I'm someone who, when I'm comparison shopping, I want to read reviews on the site itself, on other sites, and see if there's a discount available rather than just saying, like, click. But that's only for things that I'm really considering.
I also wouldn't want to put my credit card information into one of these systems anyway. I just had my credit card used without my permission. I had to get a whole new card. It was a whole rigmarole.
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Chapter 8: What lessons can be learned from navigating early career choices?
And I just don't want to give that information to a company that I don't trust.
And Ana, I think I have the most important question that everybody wants to know. Are we going to get to see the boots? Now we have to see the boots.
I don't usually show my feet on camera weirdly enough, but I will privately send you a photo.
Thank you.
Okay, so say I'm shopping inside an AI chat. Ana, what kind of mindset should I have besides being incredibly skeptical, which I already am?
Yeah, I mean, that skepticism helps. So treating AI like a salesperson or an influencer is a good first approach. It's not really a neutral advisor if advertisers are paying for their products to be featured to you. So you might need to tailor your queries to be more specific. And then, of course, make other comparisons against other trusted retail websites.
I will say that AI is going to try and ease the way and reduce all of your doubts, as it often does. And it'll say, this is exactly what you're looking for. This option checks all of your boxes, etc. Don't get got, guys, okay? All right, so how can ads show up without feeling like ads? They're also going to feel like advice.
So based on your past searches and popular with users like you, basically just algorithmic-based advertising. I would say watch for language that signals that it is an ad or that there's a partnership. So featured partner, from a trusted partner, sponsored results, et cetera.
These products are paid to be there, and they're not necessarily the best option for you, and I think that's something really crucial to remember. And AI could be prioritizing products that can be actually purchased inside the platform. So something from one of those retailers that they're partnering with. And it's not necessarily the best reviewed or the cheapest that you can find elsewhere.
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